little knots of ladies muffled and
cloaked, and only waiting for the carriages. It was like a stage, when
the performance was over. Scarcely deigning to notice the little man,
who, with palpable keenness of scrutiny, pursued his search in every
quarter, they gradually moved off, leaving Purvis alone to tread the
"banquet-hall deserted." The servants, as they extinguished the
lights, passed and repassed him without remark; so that, defeated and
disappointed, he was obliged at last to retire, sorrowfully confessing
to his own heart how little success had attended his bold enterprise.

As he passed along the galleries and descended the stairs, he made
various little efforts to open a conversation with some one or other of
the servants; but these dignified officials responded to his questions
in the dryest and shortest manner; and it was only as he reached the
great gate of the palace that he chanced upon one courteous enough to
hear him to the end in his oft-repeated question of "Who was th-th-that
with the large st-st-star on his breast, and a wh-wh-white beard?"

The porter stared at the speaker, and said respectfully, "The signor
probably means the Archduke?"

"Not the Archduke Fr-Fr-Fr--"

"Yes, sir," said the man; and closed the heavy door after him, leaving
Purvis in a state of astonishment, and as much shame as his nature
permitted him to feel. Neither upon himself nor his sensations have we
any intention to dwell; and leaving him to pursue his way homeward, we
beg to return once more within those walls from which he had just taken
his departure.

If Lady Hester's grand company had gone, the business of the evening
was by no means over; on the contrary, it was the hour of her night
receptions, and now the accustomed guests of those favored precincts
came dropping in from theatres, and operas, and late dinners. These men
of pleasure looked jaded and tired, as usual; and, except the little
tinkling sounds of Jekyl's small treble, no other voice sounded as they
walked along the corridors.

[Illustration: 426]

When they entered Lady Hester's boudoir, they found that lady recounting
to Midchekoff the whole circumstances of the morning's adventure, a
recital which she continued without other interruption than a smile or
a nod, or a little gesture of the hand to each of the new arrivals as
he came in. If the lady's manner was devoid of all ceremony, that of the
gentlemen was less ceremonious still; for they str